monitoring role of auditing and corporate dividend payout policies

journal of accounting advances (j.a.a) vol. 5, no. 1, 2013, ser. 64/3     extended abstract   monitoring role of auditing and corporate dividend payout policies   dr. v. khodadadi              s. hajizadeh               r. ghorbani shahid chamran university of ahvaz   introduction the aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between monitoring role of independent auditing and corporate dividend payout policies.   research questions or hypotheses research questions are described below: is audit firm size associated with the amount of cash dividends? is audit fee associated with the amount of cash dividends? is the amount of free cash flow associated with the amount of cash dividends? is growth opportunities ratio associated with the amount of cash dividends? is the amount of free cash flow has a significant effect on the relation between audit firm size and the amount of cash dividends? is the amount of free cash flow has a significant effect on the relation between audit fee and the amount of cash dividends? is growth opportunities ratio has a significant effect on the relation between audit firm size and the amount of cash dividends? is growth opportunities ratio has a significant effect on the relation between audit fee and the amount of cash dividends?     methods this study employs financial data of companies listed on tehran stock exchange during 2006-2009 periods, and the pooled regression model was used to test hypotheses.   results statistical analysis of data shows that audit firm size is positively associated with cash dividends, but audit fee has no significant relationship with them. the results also showed that free cash flow is positively and growth opportunities ratio is negatively associated with cash dividends. moreover, the result showed that growth opportunities ratio has a positive and significant effect on the relation between audit firm size and the amount of cash dividends.     discussion and conclusion according to the results, if auditor independence and audit quality are to be enhanced, agency costs resulting from dividends are reduced. also, the evidence provided by this paper adds to the literature and this is important because auditing is a socially constructed phenomenon.   keywords: auditor monitoring, audit quality, audit fee, cash dividends, free cash flow, growth opportunities.